7.06 Writing an Argument

It is important that states take action against distracted driving, and Florida does just that. More than 4,500 crashes have been caused as a result of distracted driving, (Carey Leisure & Neal). Within the last few years, numerous statutes/bills have been passed into law to help combat this problem, such as the Wireless Communications While Driving Law, that punish those who become distracted behind the wheel. For instance, you can now get pulled over by law enforcement for just actively being on an electronic device while driving, (“The 2021 Florida Statutes”). If you are in a school/active work zone, you are prohibited from “handling them in a handheld manner”, (FLHSMV). Through these measures, Florida is doing their part to fight against distracted driving, which is critical to ensure the safety of all of those on the road.

A common opposition to this is that these types of laws have too many loopholes, which still allow people to handle the exact same electronic devices they were told they could not use while driving. For example, these laws still “allow other very common actions, such as making phone calls or operating the device as a GPS,” (The Daily Item). Yes, this can be understood. However, it cannot be said that Florida is not doing enough to combat the problem. For the record, the problem will never fully go away. This is a problem that will take a long time to mitigate, however Florida is taking the right step forward.